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Show 1 BUFFALO JONES I IN WASHINGTON I Wants More Pasture II for His Pets. Bisons Now Like Mountains and Woods Better Than H:j Plains. I 'i " Lays Plans Before President Rooso- i elt and Will Probably Get . Action. llf "WjVSHINGTON, March 25. "Buffalo i) fi Jones," whose correct name Is Col. C. L k J. Jones, camo on to Washington a few Si' days ago from the Sportsman's expo- Hulj eltlon In Madison Square, New York, to jjjjj secure authority for the extension of Hj j his pet "buffalo pen" in the Yellowstone i park. Incidentally, Mr. Jones wanted j funds to carry out hia project. He laid fl- ' his plans before President Roosevelt HI - and there Is a good chance for favora- H' ) ble action. jij More Pasturage, Required. Hhy At the present time there are thlrty- ?l nine buffaloes roaming the fenced area Hj I within the park. In this connection, It Hh'j Is worth while to note that the 'mim- jt her of "captives" has been doubled J during the past year, but it should also bo stated that the increase Is not due Hn(- entire to births. Several calves have ' been captured, and a few mature anl- Hj f male have been purchased. 'j A considerable area of good pastur- Ki age is required to keep thirty-nine buf- ialoes in good condition. The present Inclosed space Is not large enough, ac- , , cording to the estimate of Col. Jones, and he hopes that he may be given H 'fl funds to stretch more wire. ' J Ranging at large In the national pre- H-: 'I sen'o are twenty-five or thirty head of H'vj the former monarchs of the plains. For H' ! the most part they are in the higher ' . mountains. Ordinarily there would not ! be anything specially significant In the HI , 1 statement that the animals are now n living In the higher places, but when HH; V, we look back, not many years, to the ! time the railroad first Invaded the vast H'il plains of the far West, and compare ! the home of the buffalo at that time H'. j -with what it is now, the idea of anl- H' : mals accustoming themselves to new HH ' i habitat is forcefullj' brought to mind. H I .Adapts Itself to Conditions. H We have always thought the buffalo HM as a plains animal, but we now sec Hn ft that with the conditions chanced It H'ttfj adapts Itself to new conditions. The Hl same history applies to the elk, more Hl property wapiti, which was driven H'.. from plain to foothill and finally into j. the mountain fastnesses. It is not to HH ; 5 be presumed, however, that in the days HHj when the buffalo overran the prairies It ' did not extend its wanderings into the H i higher altitudes. H I Many years ago It was found In the HH , Appalachian mountain region, which HH 1 extends from the interior of Maine, in HHl ' New England, to Alabama, In 'the H'4 I South. The great home of the buffalo, Hfl however, was the Western plains, and HRkj here they were found In great numbers Hlj; even at late as 1S71. Between 1S70 and hf 38S0, the latter date bringing the com- pletlon of the Northern Pacific rnll-HJ.mS rnll-HJ.mS road, the slaughter wrought by the Hf hide hunters was something terrible, HHjiij' and it was not long before the public HL commenced to perceive that the buf-Hbh'T buf-Hbh'T falo, or American bison, was fast ap-HJiH. ap-HJiH. proaching extinction. H'J . At the present time, the only wild U herd In existence, so far as I know, is Hi( , that which roams in the region of the HViiV Great Slave lake. The herds in captlv- 'I ity are those owned by the New York HI ( Zoological society and those which arq found in the preserve In New Hamp-shlro Hamp-shlro established by Austin Corbln. Unless my memory falls me James J. Hill of the Groat Northern has done something in the way of preserving the buffalo. On that point, however, I have not sufficient knowledge to speak definitely. defi-nitely. In the national zoo, hero In Washington, there arc some good specimens of pure-blooded bison. One strong argument In favor of Col. Jones's plea for more money to extend the crazing area of his Yellowstone park herd la that the buffalo deteriorates deterio-rates when keDt In preserves, unless the space In which ho can roam, is very large, It is true that there Is no little talk at the present time about keeping down public expenditure, but it Is also a fact that if we are going to preserve a remnant of the former king of the plains, the ordinary expenditures required re-quired in such a movement should be met cheerfully. Enemies of tho Buffalo. Col. Jones Is eminently qualified to speak on the subject of the buffalo. As his nickname indicates, he has given much of his time to this animal. I presume pre-sume that In the early days he was not over careful as to tho number he killed, but with a final realization of what tho wholesale killing of the buffalo meant, mended his ways and became a conservator. con-servator. Man, however, is not the only enemy of the big game. The cougar, which is known in some localities a3 the puma and In others as the mountain lion. la the most persistent enemy of the buffalo, buf-falo, wapiti and deer. Slaughter of Cougars. Speaking of the dangers to which the buffaloes of the Yellowstone Dark are exposed, Col. Jones said that the most serious menace to the herd was the puma. He had, he said, killed over forty for-ty of them during tho past winter. In one day he bagged six; on another occasion oc-casion he shot two In one tree. . Elk arc on the Increase In the Yellowstone, Yellow-stone, as are also the mountain sheep. Beaver are found along all the streams. |